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Schulte B, Richter E, Büning A, Baum M, Breuer A, Zorn J, König J, Geiger M, Eschbach-Bludau M, Heuser J, Zölzer D, Korencak M, Hollstein R, Beins E, Emmert D, Aldabbagh S, Eis-Hübinger AM, Streeck H. A longitudinal study on SARS-CoV-2 seroconversion, reinfection and neutralisation spanning several variant waves and vaccination campaigns, Heinsberg, Germany, April 2020 to November 2022. Euro Surveill 2024; 29:2300659. [PMID: 38940003 PMCID: PMC11212458 DOI: 10.2807/1560-7917.es.2024.29.26.2300659] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2023] [Accepted: 03/19/2024] [Indexed: 06/29/2024] Open
Abstract
BackgroundSince its emergence in December 2019, over 700 million people worldwide have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 up to May 2024. While early rollout of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 has saved many lives, there was increasing immune escape of new virus variants. Longitudinal monitoring of population-wide SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses from regular sample collection irrespective of symptoms provides representative data on infection and seroconversion/seroreversion rates.AimTo examine adaptive and cellular immune responses of a German SARS-CoV-2 outbreak cohort through several waves of infection with different virus variants.MethodsUtilising a 31-month longitudinal seroepidemiological study (n = 1,446; mean age: 50 years, range: 2-103) initiated during the first SARS-CoV-2 superspreading event (February 2020) in Heinsberg, Germany, we analysed acute infection, seroconversion and virus neutralisation at five follow-up visits between October 2020 and November 2022; cellular and cross-protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants were also examined.ResultsSARS-CoV-2 spike (S)-specific IgAs decreased shortly after infection, while IgGs remained stable. Both increased significantly after vaccination. We predict an 18-month half-life of S IgGs upon infection. Nucleocapsid (N)-specific responses declined over 12 months post-infection but increased (p < 0.0001) during Omicron. Frequencies of SARS-CoV-2-specific TNF-alpha+/IFN-gamma+ CD4+ T-cells declined over 12 months after infection (p < 0.01). SARS-CoV-2 S antibodies and neutralisation titres were highest in triple-vaccinated participants infected between April 2021 and November 2022 compared with infections between April 2020 and January 2021. Cross neutralisation against Omicron BQ.1.18 and XBB.1.5 was very low in all groups.ConclusionInfection and/or vaccination did not provide the population with cross-protection against Omicron variants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bianca Schulte
- German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Bonn-Cologne, Bonn, Germany
- Institute of Virology, University Hospital Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn, Germany
| | - Enrico Richter
- German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Bonn-Cologne, Bonn, Germany
- Institute of Virology, University Hospital Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn, Germany
| | - Antonia Büning
- Institute of Virology, University Hospital Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn, Germany
| | - Maximilian Baum
- Institute of Virology, University Hospital Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn, Germany
| | - Annika Breuer
- Institute of Virology, University Hospital Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn, Germany
| | - Jasmin Zorn
- Institute of Virology, University Hospital Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn, Germany
| | - Julia König
- Institute of Virology, University Hospital Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn, Germany
| | - Melanie Geiger
- Institute of Virology, University Hospital Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn, Germany
| | | | - Johanna Heuser
- Institute of Virology, University Hospital Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn, Germany
| | - Dominik Zölzer
- Institute of Virology, University Hospital Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn, Germany
| | - Marek Korencak
- Institute of Virology, University Hospital Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn, Germany
| | - Ronja Hollstein
- Institute of Human Genetics, School of Medicine and University Hospital Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn, Germany
| | - Eva Beins
- Institute of Human Genetics, School of Medicine and University Hospital Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn, Germany
| | - Dorian Emmert
- Institute of Virology, University Hospital Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn, Germany
| | - Souhaib Aldabbagh
- Institute of Virology, University Hospital Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn, Germany
| | | | - Hendrik Streeck
- German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Bonn-Cologne, Bonn, Germany
- Institute of Virology, University Hospital Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn, Germany
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Rosner BM, Falkenhorst G, Kumpf I, Enßle M, Hicketier A, Dörre A, Stark K, Wilking H. Case-control study of behavioural and societal risk factors for sporadic SARS-CoV-2 infections, Germany, 2020-2021 (CoViRiS study). Epidemiol Infect 2024; 152:e16. [PMID: 38220467 PMCID: PMC10894885 DOI: 10.1017/s0950268824000050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2023] [Revised: 12/14/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/16/2024] Open
Abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, a variety of societal activities were restricted to minimize direct personal interactions and, consequently, reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission. The aim of the CoViRiS study was to investigate whether certain behaviours and societal factors were associated with the risk of sporadic symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections. Adult COVID-19 cases and frequency-matched population controls were interviewed by telephone regarding activities that involved contact with other people during the 10 days before illness onset (cases) or before the interview (controls). Associations between activities and symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection were analysed using logistic regression models adjusted for potential confounding variables. Data of 859 cases and 1 971 controls were available for analysis. The risk of symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection was lower for individuals who worked from home (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 0.5; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.3-0.6). Working in a health care setting was associated with a higher risk (aOR: 1.5; 95% CI: 1.1-2.1) as were private indoor contacts, personal contacts that involved shaking hands or hugging, and overnight travelling within Germany. Our results are in line with some of the public health recommendations aimed at reducing interpersonal contacts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bettina M Rosner
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany
| | - Gerhard Falkenhorst
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany
| | - Isabella Kumpf
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany
| | - Maren Enßle
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany
| | - Andreas Hicketier
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany
| | - Achim Dörre
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany
| | - Klaus Stark
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany
| | - Hendrik Wilking
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany
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Integration von SARS-CoV-2 als Erreger von Infektionen in der endemischen Situation in die Empfehlungen der KRINKO „Infektionsprävention im Rahmen der Pflege und Behandlung von Patienten mit übertragbaren Krankheiten“. Bundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz 2023; 66:1279-1301. [PMID: 37861707 DOI: 10.1007/s00103-023-03776-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2023]
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Madhusudanan A, Iddon C, Cevik M, Naismith JH, Fitzgerald S. Non-pharmaceutical interventions for COVID-19: a systematic review on environmental control measures. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. SERIES A, MATHEMATICAL, PHYSICAL, AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES 2023; 381:20230130. [PMID: 37611631 PMCID: PMC10446906 DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2023.0130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2023] [Accepted: 06/06/2023] [Indexed: 08/25/2023]
Abstract
The purpose of this review was to identify the effectiveness of environmental control (EC) non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) in reducing transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through conducting a systematic review. EC NPIs considered in this review are room ventilation, air filtration/cleaning, room occupancy, surface disinfection, barrier devices, [Formula: see text] monitoring and one-way-systems. Systematic searches of databases from Web of Science, Medline, EMBASE, preprint servers MedRxiv and BioRxiv were conducted in order to identify studies reported between 1 January 2020 and 1 December 2022. All articles reporting on the effectiveness of ventilation, air filtration/cleaning, room occupancy, surface disinfection, barrier devices, [Formula: see text] monitoring and one-way systems in reducing transmission of SARS-CoV-2 were retrieved and screened. In total, 13 971 articles were identified for screening. The initial title and abstract screening identified 1328 articles for full text review. Overall, 19 references provided evidence for the effectiveness of NPIs: 12 reported on ventilation, 4 on air cleaning devices, 5 on surface disinfection, 6 on room occupancy and 1 on screens/barriers. No studies were found that considered the effectiveness of [Formula: see text] monitoring or the implementation of one-way systems. Many of these studies were assessed to have critical risk of bias in at least one domain, largely due to confounding factors that could have affected the measured outcomes. As a result, there is low confidence in the findings. Evidence suggests that EC NPIs of ventilation, air cleaning devices and reduction in room-occupancy may have a role in reducing transmission in certain settings. However, the evidence was usually of low or very low quality and certainty, and hence the level of confidence ascribed to this conclusion is low. Based on the evidence found, it was not possible to draw any specific conclusions regarding the effectiveness of surface disinfection and the use of barrier devices. From these results, we further conclude that community agreed standards for well-designed epidemiological studies with low risk of bias are needed. Implementation of such standards would enable more confident assessment in the future of the effectiveness of EC NPIs in reducing transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens in real-world settings. This article is part of the theme issue 'The effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions on the COVID-19 pandemic: the evidence'.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Christopher Iddon
- Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, University College London, WC1E 6BT, London, UK
| | - Muge Cevik
- Department of Infection and Global Health, School of Medicine, University of St Andrews, KY16 9TF, St Andrews, UK
| | | | - Shaun Fitzgerald
- Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, CB2 1PZ, Cambridge, UK
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Drinhaus H, Hart D, W. Böttiger B, A. Wetsch W. The Incidence of SARS-CoV-2 With Different Hygiene Regulations During the Carnival Periods in 2021 and 2022. DEUTSCHES ARZTEBLATT INTERNATIONAL 2022; 119:759-760. [PMID: 36655290 PMCID: PMC9853234 DOI: 10.3238/arztebl.m2022.0341] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2022] [Revised: 07/07/2022] [Accepted: 09/23/2022] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Hendrik Drinhaus
- Medical Faculty, University of Cologne, and Department of Anesthesiology and Surgical Intensive Care Medicine, Cologne University Hospital, Cologne
| | - Dominique Hart
- Medical Faculty, University of Cologne, and Department of Anesthesiology and Surgical Intensive Care Medicine, Cologne University Hospital, Cologne
| | - Bernd W. Böttiger
- Medical Faculty, University of Cologne, and Department of Anesthesiology and Surgical Intensive Care Medicine, Cologne University Hospital, Cologne
| | - Wolfgang A. Wetsch
- Medical Faculty, University of Cologne, and Department of Anesthesiology and Surgical Intensive Care Medicine, Cologne University Hospital, Cologne
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Korencak M, Sivalingam S, Sahu A, Dressen D, Schmidt A, Brand F, Krawitz P, Hart L, Maria Eis-Hübinger A, Buness A, Streeck H. Reconstruction of the Origin of the First Major SARS-CoV-2 Outbreak in Germany. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2022; 20:2292-2296. [PMID: 35574268 PMCID: PMC9088089 DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2022.05.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2022] [Revised: 05/06/2022] [Accepted: 05/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
The first major COVID-19 outbreak in Germany occurred in Heinsberg in February 2020 with 388 officially reported cases. Unexpectedly, the first outbreak happened in a small town with little to no travelers. We used phylogenetic analyses to investigate the origin and spread of the virus in this outbreak. We sequenced 90 (23%) SARS-CoV-2 genomes from the 388 reported cases including the samples from the first documented cases. Phylogenetic analyses of these sequences revealed mainly two circulating strains with 74 samples assigned to lineage B.3 and 6 samples assigned to lineage B.1. Lineage B.3 was introduced first and probably caused the initial spread. Using phylogenetic analysis tools, we were able to identify closely related strains in France and hypothesized the possible introduction from France.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marek Korencak
- Institute of Virology, University Hospital Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn 53127, Germany
| | - Sugirthan Sivalingam
- Institute for Genomic Statistics and Bioinformatics, Medical Faculty, University of Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn 53127, Germany
- Core Unit for Bioinformatics Data Analysis, Medical Faculty, University of Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn 53127, Germany
| | - Anshupa Sahu
- Institute for Genomic Statistics and Bioinformatics, Medical Faculty, University of Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn 53127, Germany
- Core Unit for Bioinformatics Data Analysis, Medical Faculty, University of Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn 53127, Germany
| | - Dietmar Dressen
- Labor Mönchengladbach MVZ Dr. Stein & Kollegen GbR, Tomphecke 45, Mönchengladbach 41169, Germany
| | - Axel Schmidt
- Institute for Genomic Statistics and Bioinformatics, Medical Faculty, University of Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn 53127, Germany
| | - Fabian Brand
- Institute for Genomic Statistics and Bioinformatics, Medical Faculty, University of Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn 53127, Germany
| | - Peter Krawitz
- Institute for Genomic Statistics and Bioinformatics, Medical Faculty, University of Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn 53127, Germany
| | - Libor Hart
- Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Duisburg-Essen, Henricistr. 92, Essen 45136, Germany
| | | | - Andreas Buness
- Institute for Genomic Statistics and Bioinformatics, Medical Faculty, University of Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn 53127, Germany
- Core Unit for Bioinformatics Data Analysis, Medical Faculty, University of Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn 53127, Germany
| | - Hendrik Streeck
- Institute of Virology, University Hospital Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, Bonn 53127, Germany
- Corresponding author.
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